San Jose City Hall Vandalism Suspect May Be Linked To Incident At Mayor's Home On Night Of Protests
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) – A person arrested for allegedly defacing San Jose City Hall Friday evening may be linked to an earlier vandalism incident at Mayor Sam Liccardo's home, police said.
Officers responded to Liccardo's home around 10:45 p.m. Friday. According to witnesses, someone spray painted the front of the mayor's home, which had a Black Lives Matter sign in the window, with phrases that included "BLM," Jacob Blake, along with profanities.
A short time later, police said a vandalism incident took place at City Hall. One suspect was arrested and booked into jail on suspicion of felony vandalism charges.
No additional details about the suspect have been released.
Following the vandalism at Liccardo's home, neighbors quickly gathered to clean up the mayor's residence.
Liccardo said the vandalism does not detract from his support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
"I'm tremendously heartened by the response of dozens of my neighbors who dropped everything late last night to spend a couple of hours scrubbing graffiti from Jessica's and my home," Liccardo said in a statement Saturday. "Many of these same neighbors' homes bear 'Black Lives Matter' signs and they represent the true spirit of the movement and of our San Jose community."
Both incidents followed a night of peaceful protests in Downtown San Jose calling for the end of police violence in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Anyone with information about either incident is asked to contact detectives at 408-277-4161.